The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1887-12-10
JACKS REFOR NATION.

JuOh iihh DSOh opNhhllib viz Nuy
at Glen Island, and had partaken
freely of both the solid and the liquid
that he was puzzled as to which
to attribute his unsteady gait. 1t
was one o'clock in the morning. He
had Just left the elevated railroad
and was zigzagging homeward with
his white hat on the back of his
head and his hands in his pockets,
singing softly to himself:
The man in the moon is looking love-;
He's winking, love; he's blinking, love /;
And each little star will tell
He Jack ran against a tree and
lost the thread of his song. After
recovering his hat, which had rolled
in the gutter, Jack resumed his
journey, and turning up a quiet side
street climed up front stoop and
sat down upon the topmost step.
The moon was shining brightly and
paling the street lamps. The hori-
zon was lit up with a glow like that
of prairie fire, and the chimneys
across the way stood out black and
distinct against the glowing back
ground. From far down the street
he could hear a party of serenaders
singing an old song which sounded
familiar to him. Jack was begin
ming to get sobered. He put his
followed hand behind his ear and
listened. Yes, although he could
not hear the words, the serenaders
were so far away, he could supply
them himself:
There's heart beating for somebody,
Lightning the home he loves best,
Warming the bosom of somebody
Warming the bosom of somebody, oh
and the "oh" came waited down the
street in a tuneful little cadence
which died away like sob in the
distance. The song brought to
Jacks remembrance an old fashion
ed farmhouse on a Vermont hillside.
There We're horse hair chairs in the
room and picture of Washington
and his family on the wall. In the
corner stood a little melodeon with
a squeaky bellows, the complaining
of which he could hear even now
through all the intervening years.
Before the melodeon sat a young
girl whose blue scarf matched the
color of her eyes and who was play
ing the very tune he had just heard.
"The "oh !" at the end of the song
came softly to him out of the past
and it seemed to Jack to have some
thing of regret in it. Jack took off
his hat and ran his hands through
his hair. He lapsed into reminis-
cence again, and remembered how
he had married the blue-eyed girl
and brought her to the big roaring
city; how the babies had come one
after another until they had three /;
how his 'little woman's eyes had
lost some of their lustre from weep
ing, and how he stayed out late O.
nights drinking when he should
have been home looking after the
welfare of his wife and babies. By
this time Jack was thoroughly So
bered and repentant. He felt in his
pocket for his latchkey, but the key
wasn't there. He didn't care to ring
the bell, because he was afraid of
his wife's anger. The window had
been left up because the night was
warm, but he thrust his hands be-
tween the blind Stats and tried to
undo the fastening. A low growl
made him withdraw his hand quick
ly. Then it occurred to him that
it was only his setter dog, and he
whistled softly to the dog and the
animal whined in recognition. AT
ter struggling with the fastening un-
til he succeeded in unfastening the
window he lodged on the window
sill when he tried to climb in, and
loaded as he was, teetered back and
forth, at the imminent risk of tum-
bling into the stone basement below.
At last he rolled into the room with
a thump which shook the whole
house. Hehad just gathered up his
bruised body and placed it upon the
sofa when the door opened and his
wife made her appearance.
$50 you've returned, have you,"
said she sarcastically, while her eyes
blazed like ardent Goals. "The baby
is sick with the Group up stairs, but
of course you don't care anything
about that. We might all be taken
down with cholera and you would
not know anything about it. I sup
pose you've had a very pleasant
time to-day with your friends, and
are drunk as usual. This thing has
gone on as long as it is possible to
ao,,11